Odisha Urban Polls: BJD’s Sanghamitra Dalei Wins Berhampur Mayor Post; 1793 Voters Chose NOTA Option

Bhubaneswar: BJD’s Mayor candidate for Berhampur Municipal Corporation (BeMC) Sanghamitra Dalei has defeated her nearest BJP rival Sabita Suar by a margin of 20, 286 votes.

The 52-year-old lawyer-turned-politician polled 66,068 votes while BJP’s Sabita Suar got 45,782 votes. The other candidates in the fray – C Priyanka (AAP) got 7453 votes, Manju Rath (Congress)- 6768, Nita Kumari Panda (Ind)-4038, Sunita Panigrahi (Ind)-919 and Tapaswini Naga (BSP) received 918 votes.

A total of 1793 voters chose the NOTA option, official sources said.

Thanking city denizens for their support, she said that she would carry forward the good work and standards set by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.“I will take Berhampur to new heights with all-round development. My focus will be health, sanitation,  cleanliness and beautification of the city,” she added.

The BJD women wing president in Ganjam district had joined the party in 2013 after quitting Congress. She also served as a corporator in BeMC thrice, twice on Congress ticket.

A resident of Bada Sahi in Bijipur, Sanghamitra did her schooling at Unit IV Girls High School and graduated from RD Women’s Autonomous College,  both in Bhubaneswar. She completed LLB from Ganjam Law College, Berhampur. She also did a Diploma in Human Rights and Duties from Berhampur University.

She had settled down in the Silk City after getting married to the firebrand political leader of Ganjam, Bhimsen Dalei, on May 20, 1997.

The BJD also bagged 30 of 42 corporator seats in the BeMC while 7 went to BJP, 4 to independent and 1 to Congress. Three of 30 coporators, belonging to BJD, were elected uncontested.